Shadow Slave

Usually, it would have taken Kai a lot longer to fly across the city to reach the tranquil terrace district… not that he would have. But today, the famous idol neglected his habit of staying low and out of sight. It seemed that his speed increased tremendously, as well, because ten minutes later, he was already at Sunny's door.

Maybe because of that, there was no crowd of paparazzi following him.

As they waited for Cassie, Effie rummaged through the empty refrigerator, then walked away from it with a disappointed sigh.

"There's no food!"

Sunny, who was evaluating the damage the boisterous huntress had done to the guest bedroom, glanced at her darkly.

"We've been gone for months. What did you expect?"

Effie made a sad face, then shrugged.

"But I'm hungry!"

Sunny let out an exasperated breath.

"...I have some synthpaste, if you want."

She shuddered and opened her mouth to retort, but at that moment, there was a knock on the door. If not for the haughty shadow standing guard outside — reluctantly, of course, since mundane tasks such as this were grossly beneath it — Sunny would have tensed up.

However, he already knew that it was Cassie.

The blind girl walked inside, froze for a moment, then raised a deliciously smelling package.

"...I brought food."

a quick glance at

has some

stare at the

his looks assumed an almost hypnotizing quality. It was easy to get distracted if one stared at

help but shake his head ruefully, a stunned expression on his

that no one he had ever met was able to match. The four of them were Masters too, now, but

And Sunny himself?

wasn't sure that he qualified to be considered a flower boy, as Soul Reaper had once predicted, but even he couldn't call himself unassuming anymore. The scrawny kid from

darkness, visible only to Sunny himself, golden threads of Weaver's forbidden

four of them settled around the

the fact that they should have been exhilarated by their triumph over the Nightmare, none of the four seemed too joyous… well, except for Effie, who couldn't stop grinning and stealing glances at her

just felt… hurt,

no matter how deep the wounds dealt to their souls cut. Now that the danger had passed and the members of the cohort were back in the real world, all those invisible scars

on the Ivory

had their share of demons to quell, no

himself a cup of

remember much after being swallowed

her fork and stared at the archer with a stunned

You were swallowed

Kai smiled with embarrassment:

into his mouth. Because I didn't know

Effie blinked a few times, but didn't say anything. She even forgot about her

looked down, then

knives, I think. After you killed the dragon, there was no real reason for him to stay.

quiet for a few moments,